The Desert Queen: Abridged
by xSonallyGirl129x
Summary: "What if he was a girl?" This question has been asked and explored countless times with characters like Goku, Vegeta and Gohan. But just how different would the story be if Yamcha was born female? More than you'd think, but less than you'd hope... (Abridged)
1. Quest for the Dragon Balls

**New story on the horizon!**

**See the end of the chapter for notes**

**The cover picture was drawn by cozymochi on Tumblr (please don't kill me for having it here)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, it belongs to Akira Toriyama! I only wrote this story! Enjoy!~**

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**Chapter 1: Quest for the Dragon Balls**

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A tiny butterfly flapping its wings may lead to a devastating hurricane weeks from now. The smallest change can dramatically alter the future, the actions and choices made shaping how the story unfolds. Each story is one of many possibilities. But some changes are beyond our control. And in this world of mysticism and adventure with too many twists and turns to count, a single change proves to have lasting consequences…

**OoOoOoO**

After the incident in Aru Village that led to Oolong joining Goku and Bulma, the trio found themselves wandering in the Diablo Desert, having no mode of transportation when Bulma lost her capsule case in the river. With exhaustion brought on by hours of trekking in the harsh heat, the three of them elected to relax in the shadows of a large rock formation, with Bulma falling asleep almost instantly while Goku and Oolong made small talk amongst themselves, the journey through the desert seeming to be quite uneventful thus far.

That is, until a certain blue-furred feline spotted them through her telescope and immediately went to tell her master, the single change in the timeline revealing itself as they set out towards the pig and monkey-tailed boy…

The revving sound of an approaching vehicle drew Goku and Oolong's attention to what looked like a speck in the distance at first glance, but as a few seconds passed, it was revealed to be someone rapidly approaching them on a Jet Squirrel. It stopped in front of them and the rider jumped off, revealing to be a young woman who introduced herself as Yamcha, the feared bandit of the Diablo Desert, and her trusty sidekick Puar.

"I am the queen hyena in a land of scavengers," she said, smirking at them as confidence practically dripped from her voice. "The name is Yamcha."

With Yamcha demanding any money and capsules they had on them in exchange for their lives, Oolong, who previously been checking her out in silence, quickly turned to Goku, telling him to fight the woman off just before ducking for cover behind the rock formation, which still hid Bulma from Yamcha's view. Seeing her opportunity, Yamcha unsheathed her sword and swung it at Goku, only for him to jump in the air and dodge it, taking out his trusty Nyoibō and attacking her with it.

Yamcha had quickly recognized the scarlet staff, question the monkey-tailed boy where he got it, to which Goku revealed that his grandfather, the legendary martial artist Son Gohan, had given it to him. Though fascinated at the thought of battling Gohan's grandson, Yamcha refused to let her guard down, deciding to bring out her signature attack: Wolf Fang Fist, leading to Goku crashing into a separate rock formation that crumbled down on him.

Though she hated the idea of ending a child's life, Yamcha refused to show mercy and turned back to Oolong, who, after fruitlessly trying to escape using his shapeshifting abilities, was about to hand over a single capsule he had in his pocket when Goku jumped up from the debris, looking more hungry and annoyed than hurt.

Surprised, Yamcha charges towards Goku with another attack, to which Goku quickly countered with his Jan Ken technique, sending Yamcha flying several feet before hitting the ground. This only served to enrage the female bandit, who charged towards Goku, who was beginning to feel weakened from hunger, with a furious yell.

The yelling succeeding in awakening Bulma, but Yamcha paid the other woman no mind as she attacked Goku with one last Wolf Fang Fist, sending him into another rock formation and crashing to the ground. Having put a lot of her energy into that last attack, Yamcha stops for a moment to catch her breath before grabbing her sword and making her way towards Goku and Oolong, determined to finish her robbery and steal everything they have, forcefully if she has to.

That's when she hears the sound of a gun cocking and stops in her tracks, turning to see Bulma standing several feet behind her, blue eyes narrowed in anger with her pistol aimed directly at Yamcha.

"Leave. Now!" The bluenette's demand is practically a growl.

But Yamcha barely hears her, her dark eyes wide with surprise. She immediately recognizes this girl: Bulma Brief, heiress of the most successful company on the planet, Capsule Corporation. She was practically the media's darling; everyone knew who she was, knew of her fortune.

And as this realization dawns on Yamcha, she suppresses a devilish smirk with a warm smile, a plan quickly forming in her mind.

"Well I'll be," Yamcha said, jamming the blade of her sword into the ground. "Bulma Brief. Tell me, what's a city girl like you doing in the desert?"

"That's none of your damn business!" Bulma snapped, gun still aimed at the dark-haired girl.

In the end, Yamcha manages to make it go her way, able to smooth talk her way into convincing Bulma to relax and lower the gun, then tells the trio of how she isn't satisfied with the bandit lifestyle, how she's begun to feel empty from it, how she wants to start a new life away from her crimes. She asks them in an innocent tone if they are on some kind of adventure, to which Goku, without a second thought, replies with yes. Still keeping up an innocent and now shy façade, Yamcha asks if she can join them, saying that she always wanted to go on an adventured, that maybe this could be her chance to start a new life, and pointing out to Bulma that she could always need some extra muscle for protection.

"You wouldn't want anything bad to happen if Goku gets hurt, would you?" she asked Bulma, who seemed to consider this for a moment.

Goku simply replies with yes, not thinking twice about giving her a second chance in his naivety, but also really wanting food right now. Oolong, for his part, is eager at the idea of having another woman join them; sure, she wasn't as curvy as Bulma, but her chest and bottom still had some development on them. And after a moment or two, Bulma agrees to this.

Yamcha happily thanks them, but inside, she's laughing maniacally, everything already going perfectly as planned.

**OoOoOoO**

As Yamcha and Puar head back to their hideout to pack their things, Oolong opens up his capsule, which is revealed to be a House-Wagon. At the hideout, Puar asks Yamcha why she did that, to which Yamcha excitedly tells the feline her plan: to gain the trust of the trio, then beat up Goku and Oolong when they least expect it and capture Bulma to demand ransom money from Capsule Corp. It was brilliant, and Puar happily cheered at the plan.

They quickly return to the Wagon-House, and the five of them talk for a while over dinner, where Yamcha becomes surprised at Goku's immense appetite. Bulma heads off to take a shower, and Yamcha takes the opportunity to ask Goku where they're headed to. Oolong chimes in, wondering why Goku and Bulma want to head to Fry-Pan Mountain, the statement surprising Yamcha and Puar, as they are aware of the Ox King's reputation.

Goku responds by telling them about the mystical Dragon Balls, about how when you gather all seven, a dragon is summoned to grant you a wish, and tells them that one of the Dragon Balls is at Fry-Pan Mountain. The information fascinates Yamcha, Oolong and Puar, and Yamcha starts turning this information over in her head as Bulma returns from her shower, angry at the undersized pajamas that Oolong had provided her. Yamcha offers to let Bulma use one of her nightgowns, to which the heiress joyfully agrees to as Yamcha and Puar head to the bathroom to shower as well.

While in the shower, Yamcha tells Puar that she has a new plan now: to steal the Dragon Balls once all seven are collected and wish to never be afraid of boys again. Confused, Puar asks her master if she'd rather have boundless wealth or rule the world, only for Yamcha to reply that she has no use for the world and can just steal all the money she wants. The only thing she really wants is to not be so damn shy around boys, confessing of her dreams of one day getting married.

Once they finish showering and dry off, Yamcha and Puar head out of the bathroom. But when they open the door, Bulma, who is wearing one of Yamcha's oversized nightgowns, is revealed to be standing there with an angry smirk on her face, much to Yamcha and Puar's horror as they realize she heard everything they said. Bulma doesn't hesitate to cockily berate Yamcha for her plan, but after a few minutes of this, makes a surprising proposition: Yamcha helps them on their quest for the Dragon Balls, and in return, Bulma agrees to give her "confidence lessons" to help her with boys.

"Sure, I'm not amused with your little 'plan'," Bulma says, smirk still remaining on her face. "But hey, we girls help each other out."

Yamcha is surprised at Bulma's proposition, but started to think about it. Looking back, she wasn't really lying when she said she wanted a new life away from her bandit ways. Sure, she had Puar, but she had no friends or even human contact outside of the people she's robbed. She had secretly been wanting these things for a long time now, and happily accepted Bulma's offer.

After Yamcha gets dressed in her own nightgown (which fits her perfectly), Oolong offers each of them glasses of "juice", and they head to bed once they've drunk them, falling asleep surprisingly quickly, with Bulma occupying the bed upstairs and Yamcha taking up the couch close to it. Once Goku is fast asleep, Oolong quickly sneaks upstairs, intent on peeking on the girls while they sleep…but as soon as he gets upstairs, Puar, who was familiar with the pig's schemes and only pretended to drink the "juice", turns into a frying pan and smacks Oolong on the head, knocking him unconscious for the rest of the night.

**OoOoOoO**

The next morning, everyone awakens, with Oolong having a headache from Puar's attack. Since Bulma doesn't have any clean clothes available, Yamcha lets Bulma wear some of her's. While Yamcha chooses to wear a green T-Shirt, tan cargo pants and her usual boots, Bulma dons a red tank top, blue denim shorts and black and white tennis shoes. Oolong is silently frustrated that he won't be able to get Bulma in that playboy bunny costume he has stored, but chooses to keep quiet and takes what he can get.

After breakfast, Oolong starts the drive towards Fry-Pan Mountain all day while Goku, Yamcha, Bulma and Puar all talk and laugh amongst themselves, starting to build up camaraderie over the course of the day. When Yamcha mentions she wants to get married one day, Goku asks her what marriage is and she explains it to him. During this time, Yamcha learns about Son Gohan from Goku and about Bulma's wish for the 'perfect boyfriend' (which Yamcha inwardly rolls her eyes at). At sunset, they stop for the night. Yamcha and Goku step outside to stretch their legs and spar together, allowing themselves to have fun as they aren't fighting to the death like last time.

The journey to Fry-Pan Mountain takes two days. Yamcha and Oolong tell the story of the mountain as they draw closer, explaining how it used to be called Pleasant Mountain until ten years ago, when a fire spirit fell from the heavens and transformed it into a mountain of eternal flames. The sight of Fry-Pan Mountain blanketed in flames shocks Goku and Bulma, as Yamcha and Oolong fill them in with the Ox King.

"All who approach his mountain come to horrible ends," Oolong said, fear evident in his voice.

Yamcha nodded in agreement. "Look at the top of the mountain. See that castle in the flames?" she pointed directly at it. "That's his. It overflows with gold, silver, and other treasures that he's looted from all over the land. Thousands have tried to steal it, but he keeps a constant vigil, and none have returned alive."

Bulma quickly concluded that the sixth Dragon Ball must be inside the castle, and is confident that Goku and Yamcha can take on the Ox King. Oolong, however, is now fully convinced that they're insane and tries to drive the House-Wagon away…only for Bulma to use that Swee-Trot against him to make him stay.

The five of them make their way closer to the base of the mountain and find an abandoned village in ruins. Goku summons his trusty Kinto'un cloud and tries to fly over the flames to get into the castle, but the heat proves to be too much and he retreats.

An enormous axe suddenly slams into one of the half-destroyed houses, extremely close to Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar, and they slowly turn in horror to see the Ox King standing over them.

"What're yew doin' here on mah land?" He growled out, wrenching his axe from the house rubble, his voice booming at them. "Aimin' to swipe my treasure, aren'cha? Well?! Izzat it?"

The four of them quickly defend themselves, starting to say through their stuttering that they're just passing through. But at that moment, Goku returns, telling them that it's too hot to break into the castle. Ox King, however, immediately notices Kinto'un and asks Goku where he got it. Goku tells him it's from Roshi, the Turtle Hermit. Ox King is overjoyed and reveals that Roshi was his master, but quickly noticed the Nyoibō and asked about it as well, and when Goku tells him it's from his grandpa Gohan, Ox King tells him that he trained alongside Gohan under Roshi.

Ox King tells Goku about the Bansho Fan, which can put out the fire on the mountain, that Roshi is the one who has it, and asks Goku to retrieve it, to which Goku agrees to. But before he leaves, Ox King makes an additional request to pick up his daughter Chi-Chi and shows a picture of her, and Goku heads off on Kinto'un to do so.

Goku finds Chi-Chi, who is scared and running from a dinosaur. She kills it just as Goku jumps to the ground, and becomes frightened by his sudden appearance and attacks him. Goku fights back and is able to bring Chi-Chi down, and once she's calm, he tells her why he's there and where he's going. Chi-Chi climbs aboard Kinto'un and heads off to find Roshi with Goku. Along the way, Goku does his "Pat-Pat" to make sure Chi-Chi's a girl, which freaks Chi-Chi out and makes her mad at him for the rest of the trip.

Eventually, Goku and Chi-Chi are able to find Kame House were Roshi lives. They explain the situation to Roshi and ask for the Bansho Fan. Roshi agrees to do it, but in return, he asks Goku to ask Bulma for a "favor." Goku, not understanding the implications of it, says yes. Roshi searches for the Bansho Fan, but ends up finding out that he had thrown it away after spilling wonton soup on it sometime ago. Chi-Chi is distressed, convinced she can never go home, but Roshi has another plan and heads back to Fry-Pan Mountain with Goku and Chi-Chi.

Once they make it back, after Ox King sincerely apologizes to his master, Roshi talks with Bulma about his "favor", which Bulma is furious about at first, but suddenly gets an idea and agrees to it. And, much to the others' amazement, Roshi performs the Kamehameha wave, concentrating all his dormant energy into a single focused blast. It puts out the fire, but destroys the mountain in the process.

Bulma, Oolong and Puar look for the Dragon Ball within the castle ruins. Meanwhile, Chi-Chi notices Yamcha and talks with the older girl, and Chi-Chi becomes shocked when Yamcha tells her that she's a martial artist.

"B-But that's impossible!" Chi-Chi yelled out in her shock. "Girls can't be fighters…Can they?" A thoughtful look appeared on her face.

As this is going on, Goku asks Roshi if he can teach him the Kamehameha. Roshi tells him that it takes fifty years to learn it, but within seconds, Goku attempts it and destroys the House-Wagon with it. Roshi, in his amazement after witnessing this and learning that Goku is Gohan's grandson, asks Goku if he wants to train under him, to which Goku excitedly accepts.

Bulma finds the seven-star ball, now having six Dragon Balls and only one more to go. With the House-Wagon destroyed, Ox King gives the group his old car and they capsulize their belongings from the House-Wagon. They prepare to leave, but Roshi stops Bulma and reminds her of their deal. With her idea in mind, Bulma pulls Yamcha aside to explain the situation, and asks Yamcha to take her place for the "favor", which shocks and flusters Yamcha and she refuses to do it at first.

"Come on, Yams," Bulma practically begged her. "After what happened last time, I can't do it. Just this once? Please, as a favor woman-to-woman? I promise I'll make it up later."

After a few minutes of convincing, Yamcha reluctantly gives in. Bulma brings Roshi over to tell him that he's getting a "new girl" and rushes off, leaving a flustered Yamcha with Roshi. Yamcha tries to do it, but freezes up, and in frustration, Bulma rushes back over to Yamcha, grabs the bottom of the ex-bandit's shirt and lifts it all the way up, revealing the black bra underneath and resulting in Roshi getting a nosebleed.

Bulma heads back to the car with a mortified Yamcha, and the group of five say their goodbyes and head off to find the last Dragon Ball.

**OoOoOoO**

A few more days pass and the group continues towards finding the final Dragon Ball, heading further into the desert, when their car is suddenly shot by a rocket and blown up, though they're thankfully more shocked than hurt. A dog-man in a robot suit appears and steals the briefcase containing the Dragon Balls; Goku summons Kinto'un to go after him and Yamcha tags along, pleasantly surprised that she can ride the cloud as well. Goku and Yamcha find the suit, but it's empty and the dog-man and the Dragon Balls are nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Goku still has his four-star ball.

Yamcha still has a few back-up capsules in her pockets and takes out her Silver Star Mark 4 car, and they use the Dragon Radar to go after the Dragon Balls. Within minutes, they find an enormous castle and head inside, but are lured into a room and trapped inside. The TV inside the room turns on and Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shu introduce themselves before demanding the four-star ball, which the group refuses to give them. Pilaf tries to "intimidate" Bulma with his prudish methods, but it backfires.

The Pilaf Gang pumps sleeping gas into the room, causing the group to pass out and the Pilaf Gang rummages through their things until Mai finds the four-star ball on Goku. At nightfall, the gang wakes up and attempts to break out of the room, but to no avail. Goku tries to use the Kamehameha, but it only creates a small hole. Puar and Oolong are able to transform into tiny bats and fly through the hole just as Pilaf summons the eternal dragon Shenron outside. Oolong gets an idea and rushes over before Pilaf can make his wish.

"Okay!" Pilaf exclaimed loudly, looking up at the dragon with pure rapture. "I wish to rule—"

"The panties of a hot babe!" Oolong cried out, cutting Pilaf off.

And sure enough, a pair of panties floated down from the sky into Oolong's hands, and Shenron vanishes, the Dragon Balls turning to stone and scattering across the Earth.

Furious, the Pilaf Gang rushes towards Oolong and Puar as they retreat back to the room, where they're able to use their transformations and Goku and Yamcha's attacks to break open a much larger opening in the wall, allowing them to escape and run through the castle, trying to find their way out, but are once again trapped in another room, this one with walls constructed for pure steel and with a shatter-proof layer of glass for the ceiling. That's when Pilaf gleefully tells them over an intercom what the glass is for: the afternoon sun in the desert is brutal, and with no protection from the sun, the interior of the cell will essentially turn into a rice cooker and overheat the group.

The group is sent into a panic and they try for hours to break out of the room, but even Goku's Kamehameha doesn't make a single dent in the walls. Tired from all the fighting and panicking, the five of them slump against the wall, reluctantly deciding to accept their fates. Oolong spots Puar looking up at the sky and she tells him that she's looking at the full moon. At the mention of a full moon, Goku tells them about a monster that comes out during the full moon and that it was responsible for the death of Son Gohan, but he has never seen it. Then he mentions that Gohan always told him to never look at the full moon, which frightens the group when they piece it together.

Bulma tells Goku not to look up, but he does anyways. For a minute, nothing happens, but just as the group begins to relax, Goku begins to transform into a giant monkey monster, breaking them out of the room but starting to mindlessly rampage all around the castle, destroying as Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong and Puar run away as the Pilaf Gang escapes. With no way to stop Goku and not knowing of any weaknesses, the four of them are forced to hide and run from the monster all night, until dawn when Goku finally stops and reverts back to normal, falling asleep immediately.

The four of them, exhausted from last night's events, find a nearby cluster of mushroom trees and take Goku there, passing out in the shade for several hours. They wake up in the mid-afternoon a few minutes before Goku does, and decide not to tell Goku that he was the monster. Goku wakes up and has no memory of what happened; the others simply tell him that the monster attacked them last night, which Goku buys. With Goku having no clothes due to his being destroyed, Oolong gives him his pants.

Goku rushes off to retrieve his Nyoibō from the castle rubble, and Bulma offers to let Yamcha, Oolong and Puar come back to the city with her, to which they all say yes. Goku returns with his Nyoibō and Bulma gives him the same offer, but he declines in favor of training with Roshi. Goku tells Bulma he still wants to find his grandpa's four-star Dragon Ball, and as Yamcha takes out a capsule plane, Bulma gives Goku the Dragon Radar.

Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong and Puar say their goodbyes to Goku, who summons his Kinto'un and they head their separate ways after the first of what will be many adventures in the future.

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**I've wanted to do an abridged fic for a while now, and I've also wanted to do a "What if Yamcha was female?" fic as well, so I thought, why not combine the two?**

**If you know me, you know that I have the tendency to go into detail when writing stories (I can't help it), so for me, and abridged fic is a detailed summary instead of a full story, with some dialogue here and there**

**Now we've already got a number of changes, and it's only the beginning of the story:**

**Yamcha joins the group early, and Goku learns what marriage is much earlier in the story.**

**In the original story, Yamcha met Chi-Chi and "confessed his love" for her before she met Goku, which put her in a romantic mood already. But since that never happened here, Chi-Chi remained angry at Goku after he touched her and Goku never made his promise to marry Chi-Chi.**

**Due to Yamcha being with the group already and not spying on Goku, she never learned that his tail is his weakness, and because of that Goku rampaged as an Oozaru until dawn and kept his tail.**

**Yamcha and Bulma become good friends instead of romantic partners.**

**And lastly, you may have noticed that I completely skipped the Monster Carrot section. The reason I omitted it is because it was only included to give Bulma a new outfit, but since she borrowed some of Yamcha's clothes, it's not needed here. Plus, while it shows us more of the fantasy element that was prevalent in early Dragon Ball, it isn't really necessary for the story in the long run.**

**I'm excited to see where we go from here ^^ Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Please leave a review letting me know what you think! God bless you and have a wonderful day/night/whenever you read this!**


	2. Path to Power

**Chapter 2: Path to Power**

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After separating from his friends, Goku heads to his home on Mount Paozu, where he packs his things and puts on a clean martial arts outfit, and then takes his Kinto'un to Kame House, ready to start his training with the Turtle Hermit. Upon arriving, Goku enters the house and tries to get Roshi's attention, but sees that he's distracted by his collection of women's exercise videos.

Goku spends a few minutes trying to get the Turtle Hermit's attention, but fails each time. When he finally succeeds by yelling directly into Roshi's ear, the old Hermit finally notices Goku and welcomes him, but tells Goku to wait until he's done with the videos. Goku tells him that he's hungry, and Roshi directs him to the fridge, blissfully unaware of the mistake he had just made.

Sometime later, after finishing up his show and realizing that he needs to promptly restock his fridge, Roshi asks Goku what he wants, to which the monkey-tailed boy gleefully tells him that the Dragon Ball hunt is over and he's here to train with the Turtle Hermit. As soon as Roshi hears this, he checks outside, only to see that there's no one else around, and asks Goku where those two girls where.

"Oh, you mean Bulma and Yamcha?" Goku said, swaying his tail. "They went back to Bulma's home in the city." Roshi grumbles under his breath at this, but doesn't push it any further.

Going back inside, Roshi sits Goku down and explains that his training won't be easy. Goku, for his part, doesn't care about that, simply wanting to grow stronger, hopefully even stronger than Roshi himself, to which the old man chuckles at. However, Roshi's training doesn't come for free. The old Hermit gives him a proposal: if Goku can bring him another girl, then they'll start training. Goku, completely oblivious, agrees and heads off on Kinto'un. He returns a little while later…with a large, rotund, muscle-bound woman—in other words, not what Roshi had in mind.

Roshi has Goku take the woman back to wherever he found her, and then sits the spiky-haired boy down and shows him pictures of what kind of girl to bring. Goku heads off again, thinking he now understands, and this time returns with what appears to be a beautiful young woman. Seeing the woman, Roshi pulls Goku aside and, after telling him that he got it right this time, asks Goku to get him the girl's panties. Still confused, Goku asks her about it, and a few minutes later, tells Roshi that the girl said she only has a shirt and no panties. This escalates Roshi's excitement and he goes to talk to the girl…only to discover that she's a mermaid. He tries to ask to touch her chest, which ends in her punching him in the face and jumping back into the ocean.

Roshi tells Goku one last time to find a hot girl, one who isn't sushi on the bottom half. Goku understands and is about to leave on Kinto'un again, but quickly spots something in the distance and points it out. What looks like a dot in the distance at first quickly grows in size, revealing to be a bald boy with no nose around Goku's age, on a boat heading for Kame House. Once he gets close enough, the boy jumps out of the boat and somersaults towards the duo on the island, but ends up landing head-first into the sand.

Goku pulls him out of the sand, and the boy introduces himself as Krillin, a martial artist in training who traveled from the distant east, and wishes to train under the great Master Roshi. Roshi starts to decline this, but quickly changes his tone when Krillin gives him a dirty magazine as a 'token of his appreciation'.

Seeing that Roshi was occupied, Krillin turned his attention to the spiky-haired boy next to him. "And who are you?" he asked, raising a brow at the brown-furred tail that swayed behind the other boy. "A disciple?"

"Uh-huh!" Goku replied eagerly. "I'm Son Goku."

"I see," Krillin looked him up and down a few times. "You don't look like you'd have the stomach for it."

"Oh, I got plenty o' stomach," Goku cheerfully told him, clearly thinking of something entirely different.

Krillin chuckles at him. "An attempt at wit, is that what that was?"

"You're funny!" Goku laughed. "Your head looks like a pachinko ball!"

At that, all amusement left Krillin's face and he glared at Goku. "How dare you?! All who aspire to master the martial arts shave their heads in order to unfetter their ki! Take the venerable Master Roshi as your example!"

"Actually, I'm just bald," Roshi calmly admitted before going back to his magazine, much to Krillin's embarrassment.

Once Roshi is finished with the magazine, he now instructs both Goku and Krillin to find him a hot girl, hoping that the third time will be the charm. Due to not being pure of heart, Krillin has to grab ahold of Goku in order to ride Kinto'un, and the two of them head off.

Goku and Krillin fly around for a while, and eventually come across a young woman with dark blue hair being cornered by police officer, terrified and crying out for help. Seeing the situation, Krillin is a bit hesitant at first, but Goku immediately jumps down and beats up the officers. The girl thanks them, revealing that her name is Launch, and asks how she can repay their kindness. Eventually, they manage to get her on Kinto'un and they head back to Kame House.

Once they're at the island, Goku heads inside to find Roshi while Krillin talks with Launch, who reveals that she's being pursued by the police and tries to explain that whenever she sneezes, she changes personality. Unfortunately, her explanation is cut short as Roshi comes out. Happy that the boys got it right, Roshi accepts Goku and Krillin as his disciples.

Roshi talks with Launch and introduced himself to her, explain that he is a martial arts mentor, and offers her a stay at the Turtle School, to which Launch agrees to, seeing that she has no choice due to running from the law. Immediately afterwards, Roshi asks Launch if she'd like to train alongside the boys.

"W-What? Me?" Launch asked, her wide blue eyes blinking in surprise. "Gosh, it sounds like fun, but…Your training must be so rigorous…"

Hearing this, Goku looks up at her, quickly remembering Yamcha and Chi-Chi's talk at Fry-Pain Mountain. "Is it because you're a girl?" he asked innocently, making the young woman turn to him. "What's the big deal? My friend Yamcha's a girl, and she's really strong and practices martial arts, too."

At his words, Launch gets a thoughtful look in her eyes, as if mulling the idea over in her head. In the end, she decides to accept Roshi's offer to train, honestly wanting to be able to protect herself so she won't be cornered like that again.

Roshi gives Launch a box containing the 'traditional uniform', which is revealed to be some kind of lingerie once she changes into it. Unfortunately, once they're all in their 'uniforms' and outside, a wasp buzzes by Launch's nose, causing her to sneeze. Once she does, her hair turns blonde and her eyes become sharp and green, and after seeing the outfit she's wearing, without so much as a warning, she pulls out her machine gun and angrily fires at Roshi, Goku and Krillin, who dodge her bullets in a panicked manner. Thankfully, Launch sneezes again and her hair turns blue again, and she apologizes for what her other self did.

Roshi immediately made the decision to discard the 'traditional uniform'.

Afterwards, it's decided that the island is too small to train on, so Roshi capsulizes the Kame House and the group of four heads off to another, larger island on a boat. Once they're on land and Kame House is set up, they jumped into some pre-dinner training (changed into their regular clothes, of course).

While Launch has never received any martial arts training, she still regularly exercises. Goku and Krillin, on the other hand, have done plenty of training in the past, with the former training under Son Gohan while the latter trained at the Orin Temple for years. With this is mind, Roshi sets up a test: see how many seconds it will take each of them to run one-hundred meters.

Launch decides to go first, and ends up with a time of 16.7 seconds, which is pretty impressive. Krillin goes next, and gets a time of 10.4 seconds, much to Roshi's amazement. Goku goes third and gets 11 seconds, but after realizing that his shoes were busted and replaces them, goes again and this time gets 8.5 seconds, to the surprise of his three comrades.

Roshi tells that, thought all three of them are incredibly skilled so far, they're still within human limits, and that in order to master martial arts, they'll need to break through the wall of humanity. As a demonstration, Roshi removed his turtle shell and asks Krillin to time him as well. And much to the trio's shock and amazement, he runs the 100 meters in 5.6 seconds. Roshi tells them that that is what it looks like to break past human limits, and that with training, they'll be able to break five seconds with no problem, much to their amazement.

Afterwards, they decide to take a quick break. Launch heads to the island market to pick up some ingredients and then start quickly making dinner. As the sun begins to set, the four of them head back outside, and before the real training begins tomorrow, Roshi gives his students one more test. He draws the Kame symbol on a rock and then throws it off the cliffside and into the jungle below. It's a rock-finding contest, which will require a lot of mental power and concentration, and test their constitution and stamina. And that the one who brings back the rock is the only one who will get dinner, but if none of them find the rock in thirty minutes, then none of them will get to eat.

With this information in mind, Goku, Krillin and Launch don't hesitate to rush off. Goku jumps down the cliffside and into the jungle immediately, much to Krillin and Launch's surprise. Launch rushes off to find a safe yet quick way down the cliff. Krillin starts to follow, but he realizes how impossible it find one rock in an entire jungle, so he decides to find a different rock and draw the Kame symbol on it as Goku and Launch, who made it down safely, continue searching the jungle.

Krillin rushes back to Roshi with the "rock", but Turtle Hermit berates Krillin for trying to trick him and Krillin rushes off again. Time passes and the thirty minutes are almost up as the sun continues to set. As they continue their search, Krillin and Launch (Blonde form) suddenly hear Goku excitedly shouting that he found the rock, and when they both head to the source, they discover that it's true. Amazed, they ask Goku how he found it, to which the monkey-tailed boy responds that it had Roshi's scent on it, much to their confusion.

Krillin asks to see it and Goku naively give it to him, only for the bald boy to rush off with it. Goku and Launch both angrily ran after him, with Goku going far ahead of Launch. Krillin runs across a bridge, and when Goku follows him onto it, Krillin cuts it down by the ropes and causes Goku to fall down with the bridge. But alas, it's still not enough to slow down the wild-haired boy.

Launch, who thankfully wasn't even near the bridge when this happened, sees that the bridge is out and frustratedly decides to run the long way around on the island. Goku, meanwhile, catches up to Krillin and the two of them fight, which ends in Goku beating up Krillin and demanding the rock back. Krillin throws a different rock and goes after it, and by the time Goku and Launch (not a sweating, swearing mess) get back to Kame House, Krillin and Roshi are already enjoying the dinner that Launch made.

"I apologize for this, Launch," Roshi said to the blonde, who was still glaring daggers at the duo while she and Goku, who just looks miserable, stand in the corner, after swallowing his current mouthful of food. "But I must say, you're such an amazing cook!" The compliment didn't do much to sway the hangry blonde's mood.

But it would seem that the phrase "you reap what you sow" would ring true that night. Turns out, that test would have to be the last training session for three days, due to Roshi and Krillin both coming down with bad food poising from poorly prepared 'fugu' puffer fish (due to the rush Launch had been in while making dinner).

During those three days, while Roshi and Krillin recovered, Launch tells Goku that she was amazed with his skills and asks if he can show her some basics of martial arts, which the monkey-tailed boy happily does, showing her a few stances and techniques that Son Gohan had taught him.

**OoOoOoO**

During this time, Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar arrive in West City and at Capsule Corp., the company that Bulma's father, Dr. Brief, owns. After introducing her new friends to her parents, and a hearty 'welcome home' meal from Bulma's mother Panchy, Bulma shows her new friends around the Capsule Corp. mansion and gives each of them a place to stay. While they're more than happy about this, it takes Yamcha and Puar a while to adjust to this new lifestyle, as they were used to living as dirt-poor desert bandits.

A day or so after moving in, Yamcha hears about the Tenkaichi Budokai, the 'Strongest Under the Heavens' martial arts tournament, which will be eight months from now, and excitedly decides to start training. She's always wanted to partake in the Budokai, and she finally has the means do to so! Yamcha tells Bulma about this, and in response to the passion in the other girl's dark eyes, the genius decides to surprise her friend by building a fully-functioning gravity room for her to train in. And Yamcha's reaction did not disappoint.

"Oh my goodness!" The black-haired girl practically squealed as she hugged Bulma tightly. "Thank you so much! I'd kiss you if I was into girls!"

Bulma laughed mirthfully at Yamcha's joy. "It's no big deal, I'm happy to help."

Yamcha didn't waste a single moment and did the majority of her training in the gravity room. She started off lightly, going to only twice the Earth's gravity, but as time passed, she was slowly but surely able to increase the number as her strength grew.

Unfortunately, Yamcha couldn't keep training all day like she wanted to. A couple of weeks after arriving in the city, the break for West City High School ended and classes started back up again. And because of the laws placed in the city, Yamcha had to go to school alongside Bulma, much to her displeasure. Despite her dislike of school, Yamcha quickly grew accustom to it, and could continue training and hanging out with Bulma when she wasn't working on homework or other assignments (though it did amuse her to see the other students' and teachers' amazement at her skills in her physical education classes).

During their free time together, Bulma would take Yamcha out to do 'girly things'—clothes shopping, getting hair and makeup done—but would also take her to do different fun things in the city, such as the Dream Land Amusement Park, the movie theater, and even the water park once it was warm enough (though Yamcha, the bashful woman that she is, could only wear a one-piece swimsuit while Bulma wore a daring red bikini). In spite of her tomboyish nature, Yamcha still enjoyed doing feminine things with Bulma, and grew to love her new life in the city.

As promised, Bulma began to give Yamcha confidence lessons when it came to talking to guys, and thanks to this, Yamcha's social skills grew over the months and it slowly became easier for her to talk to guys without her freezing up and blushing like crazy. During this time, however, Bulma would constantly talk about how she couldn't wait for the Dragon Balls to be active again so she can wish for the 'perfect boyfriend'. Once again, Yamcha found herself rolling her eyes, and this time she told Bulma what she thought.

"Bulma, there's no such thing as a 'perfect' boyfriend," Yamcha told the other woman. "Nobody's perfect. We're human, we all make mistakes. To expect perfection…You're setting someone up for failure. You shouldn't look for someone who is 'perfect'. You should look for someone who will love you and treat you with love and respect."

Bulma mulled Yamcha's words over in her head for a few days, and came to the conclusion that Yamcha was right. She managed to lower some of her unrealistically high expectations after a while, but a part of her was always stuck in that 'romantic dream fantasy', much to Yamcha's amusement. The girls would constantly talk about their dreams and desires to fall in love, get married and start a family someday.

The months continue to pass, with Yamcha growing stronger alongside her friendship with Bulma, as the day of the Tenkaichi Budokai drew closer and closer…

**OoOoOoO**

Back at Kame House, once Krillin and Roshi recovered from the food poisoning, training officially began. The first day began when Roshi woke the trio up at 4:30 AM just as the sun came up, though he made sure to be extra careful with waking up Launch since she was in the Blonde form. The trio and their master headed outside, wearing their training clothes—Launch's consisted of a red tank top, dark gray pants, black wristbands, and the same martial arts shoes as Goku and Krillin. And of course, she kept her red ribbon in her hair.

Training started off with the trio following Roshi with some light jogging. Roshi led them into town, where the three of them each picked up a crate of milk and were told to deliver them all across the island by foot. Goku, Krillin and Launch work to do just that—skipping, zigzagging through the trees, climbing to the top of a mountain, balancing themselves on a makeshift tree-bridge over a high distance, walking through hot sinking sand, crossing a rapid river, getting chased by carnivorous dinosaurs…you name it, they had to do it.

During their milk run, Roshi met up with an old monk friend who lived atop the mountain, and after mentioning that his students have potential, says that he's planning to enter them into the Tenkaichi Budokai months from now. Krillin is shocked and excited to hear that and explains the tournament to Goku and Launch—Goku had never heard of it, while Launch had heard the name a few times but never really looked into it. Roshi tells them that, if they continue their training without shirking, they'll surely be good enough to enter, much to the trio's excitement.

Once the early morning training is done, they start with the morning training, and once they're done with that, they can get breakfast. They have to plow fields with their bare hands. With the three of them working together, they manage to get it done, but their hands are still dirty and bloody afterwards. They head to a restaurant, and in their hunger manage to go through several bowls and plates before they're done.

After breakfast comes academics. No martial artist become a master by strengthening their body alone, after all. They must train their mind, too! However, studying begins with literature…and Launch promptly smacks the book out of Goku's hands once she realizes what Roshi was making him read. Once they're done with 'academics', the four of them have lunch and then settle down for a nap.

"Move well, study well, play well, eat well, and rest well," Roshi told them as they laid down in the hammocks outside. "That is the Turtle School way."

Naptime ends all too quickly, and the next training exercise begins, which has the trio doing construction work. Not only will they break a sweat and build muscle, but they'll also earn a bit of money. And besides, the construction workers were happy for the help.

Once the construction is done, Roshi takes them to the lake for their next training exercise: swimming. Goku asks Roshi if he could teach them some moves. The question angers Roshi, who tells them that they haven't even laid the barest foundations of strength or stamina, and yet they expect him to teach them 'moves'?! He tells them that he will teach them martial arts techniques only when they've built up enough power to move a boulder. Krillin argues that nobody can do that, but Roshi immediately proves that he can do so, hoping he can teach his students a lesson…only for Goku to come over and move it even further than Roshi did.

The Turtle Hermit quickly says that he made a mistake, and promptly points a different, much larger boulder. One that's easily ten times the size of the first boulder. Goku tries to push it, but can't make it budge even an inch. Roshi tells them that, if they continue training, they'll be able to do it one day.

They quickly get back to their training. Goku and Krillin strip down naked, while Launch (still in her Blonde form) goes down to her underwear (much to Roshi's enjoyment). Roshi tells them to swim to the far shore and back ten times…which would've been easy had it not been for the shark in the water.

After that, the next exercise will hone their reflexes…which includes the trio being tied to a tree, Roshi sneaking up to a bee hive and breaking it open before running away, and the three of them being forced to unsuccessfully dodge the bees to avoid getting stung. Needless to say, the exercise left all three of them with red, swollen spots all over their bodies.

Roshi tells the that they're done with today's training, and that starting tomorrow for the next eight months, the three of them will do the same exercises they did today…but this time they'll each be carrying a fifty-pound shell on their backs as well.

Though Roshi's training seemed insurmountably harsh at first, Goku, Krillin and Launch pressed on, their determination to not only succeed but to qualify for the Budokai. And as the months dragged wearily on, without realizing it, the trio grew stronger and faster, gradually pushing past their human limitations. And just one months before the tournament, the trio show Roshi that they're finally able to move the boulder. Goku moves it first, much to Roshi's shock, and even though neither of them can move it as far, Krillin and Launch prove one-by-one that they can move it, too.

After this, Roshi tells them that there isn't much else he can teach them. All of the basics of the Turtle School are incorporated into the training they've been doing every day for the past seven months. They may not have noticed it, but their bodies and minds have been forged like steel swords, and martial arts are no more than an application of these abilities. On the path of martial arts, one does not strive for victory over an opponent, but to avoid defeat by one's self. To do so, you must train yourself on the foundation of what you have learned until now. Roshi warns them that, in the Budokai, to not be seduced by the improbable dream of winning, and to take it as an opportunity to test their abilities and further focus their training.

For the final month of training, Roshi won't be teaching them anything new. The trio will continue what they've been doing already…except now they'll be carrying one-hundred-pound turtle shells on their backs.

Goku, Krillin and Launch continue their last month of training under a cloud of uncertainty, until the day of the Tenkaichi Budokai is only a day away. Before leaving to the airport, Roshi tells his students to remove their turtle shells, and when they do, they realize just how light their bodies feel, and when Roshi tells them to jump as high as they can, all three of them easily make it almost a mile up, feeling akin to flying.

The three of them get dressed up—with Goku and Krillin wearing suits and Launch wearing a dress—and with that, they drive off to the airport with Roshi, ready to enter the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.

* * *

**Well, this was certainly fun to write ^^ And we've got a few more changes to the timeline here:**

**Launch decides to start training as well, and become the third student of the Turtle School.**

**Bulma builds the gravity room at Capsule Corp. early on, and as a result, Yamcha is able to intensify her training much earlier in the series.**

**Yamcha grows more confident around guys than her male counterpart does with girls, and Bulma lowers her expectations for a 'perfect boyfriend' and matures a bit when it comes to relationship early on.**

**And lastly, Launch enters into the Budokai as well.**

**Now, you may have noticed that I tend to use both Japanese and English terms in this fic. It's mostly because I read the manga, which mostly has Japanese/Chinese terms in them, and I just go by those terms most of the time since that's what I'm used to, but I still use the English terms for somethings here and there.**

**And something I forgot to mention last chapter: to me, Yamcha sounds like a gender-neutral name, which is why I decided to keep it instead of changing it to a more feminine-sounding name.**

**Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! God bless you and have a wonderful day/night/whenever you read this!**


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